Recent Trends in Electrode and Electrolyte Design for Aluminum Batteries

Abstract

Due to the drawbacks in commercially known lithium-ion batteries (LIB) such as safety, availability, and cost issues, aluminum batteries are being hotly pursued in the research field of energy storage. Al being abundant, stable, and possessing high volumetric capacity has been found to be attractive among the next generation secondary batteries. Various unwanted side reactions in the case of aqueous electrolytes have shifted the attention toward nonaqueous electrolytes for Al batteries. Unlike LIBs, Al batteries are based on intercalation/deintercalation of ions on the cathode side and deposition/stripping of Al on the anodic side during the charge/discharge cycle of the battery. Hence, to provide a clear understanding of the recent developments in Al batteries, we have presented an overview concentrating on the choice of suitable cathodes and electrolytes involving aluminum chloride derived ions (AlCl 4 − , AlCl 2 + , AlCl 2+ , etc.). We elaborate the importance of innovation in terms of structure and morphology to improve the cathode materials as well as the necessary properties to look for in a suitable nonaqueous electrolyte. The significance of computational modeling is also discussed. The future perspectives are discussed which can improve the performance and reduce the manufacturing cost simultaneously to conceive Al batteries for a wide range of applications.

A Low‐Cost and Air‐Stable Rechargeable Aluminum‐Ion Battery

“…[ 6 ] Additionally, the high cost and humidity sensitivity of AlCl 3 /[EMIm]Cl further hamper the commercialization of AIBs. [ 7 ]…”

Recent Progress on Organic Electrode Materials for Multivalent (Zn, Al, Mg, Ca) Secondary Batteries

“…Therefore, SABs are emerging batteries with great development potential. [44] However, SABs are not stable in traditional aqueous electrolytes and may generate some by-products, such as Al 2 O 3 and H 2 , [45] which seriously affects the cycle life of batteries. Fortunately, the introduction of ionic liquid (IL) electrolytes helps to alleviate the above issues while also improving the performance of SABs.…”

“…In addition, the standard electrode potential ( vs standard hydrogen electrode (SHE)) of Al element is 1.68 V, making SABs relatively safe among metal‐ion batteries. Therefore, SABs are emerging batteries with great development potential [44] . However, SABs are not stable in traditional aqueous electrolytes and may generate some by‐products, such as Al 2 O 3 and H 2 , [45] which seriously affects the cycle life of batteries.…”

Zinc‐ion hybrid supercapacitors: Design strategies, challenges, and perspectives

“…[42][43][44][45][46] Similarly, Ca-ion HSCs have a large theoretical capacity (1337 mAh g −1 , 2073 Ah L −1 ), but Ca-ion deintercalation is hampered by the easily generated passivation layer in the organic electrolyte. [47][48][49][50] The trivalent Al-ion HSC has the highest theoretical capacity (2980 mAh g −1 , 8046 Ah L −1 ), [51][52][53] but a passivation oxide layer is easily formed on the surface, which prevents Al 3+ deintercalation and is frequently accompanied by a side reaction of hydrogen evolution.…”